The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-12-07
REV. DR.. TALMAGE.
THE BROOKLYN DIVINE'S sun.
DAY SERMON.
Subject: 1.-THE Gospel Of Health"

There is q fashion in sermonics. A COM
paratiyely small part of the Bible is called on
for texts. Most of the passages of Scripture,
when announced at the opening of sermons,
Immediately divide themselves into old dis
cussions that we have heard from boyhood,
and the effect on us is soporific. The auditor
guesses at the start just what the preacher
will say. There are very important chapters
and verses that have never been preached
from. Much of my lifetime l am devotlnS
to unlocking these geld chests and blasting
open these quarries We talk about the
heart, and sing about the heart, but if you
refer to the physical organ that we call the
heart, it has not half so much to do with
spiritual health or disease, moral exaltatlon
or spiritual depression, as the organ to the
consideration OF which Solomon calls US in
the text. when he describes sin progressing
'ttill dart strike through his liver" ,
Solomon's anatomical and physiological
discoveries were so very great that he was
nearly 5000 years ahead Of the scientists OF
his day. He, more than l 900 years before
Christ, seemed to know about the circulation
Of the blood, which Harvey discovered l,Gl9
years after Christ, for when Solomon in
Ecclesiastes, describing the human body,
speaks Of the pitcher at the fountain, he evil
IDENTIFY means the three canals leading from
the heart that receive the blood like pitchers
When he speaks in Ecclesiastes of the silver
cord of life, he evidently means the spinal
marrow, about which in our day Drs Mayo
and Carpenter, and Dalton, and Flint, and
-Sequard have experimental. And
Solomon recorded in the Bible thousands OF
years before scientists discovered it, that IN
his time the spinal cord relaxed in old age,
producing the tremors Of hand and head;
TOR if the silver cord be loosed"
In the text he reveals the fact that he had
studied that largest gland Of the human sys.
tenn, the liver, not by the electric light of the
modern dissecting room, but by the dim light
of q comparatively dark age, and yet had
seen its important function in the God-built
castle Of the human body, its selecting and
secreting power, its curious cells, its elon-
gated, branching tubes, divine workman
ship in central, and right, and left lobe, and
the hepatic artery through which God con-
ducts the crimson tides. oh, this vital organ
Is like the eye of God in that it never sleeps.
Solomon knew OF it and had noticed either
in vivisection OF post mortem what awful at
tacks sin and dissipation make upon it, until
with the fat of Almighty God it bids the
body and soul separate, and the one it COM
mands to the grave and the other it sends to
Judgments javelin of retribution, not
.glancing off or making slight wound, but
piercing it from side to side IT'LL the dart
strike through the liver" Galen and Hippo
crates ascribe to the liver the most Of the
worlds moral depression, and the word
melancholy means black bile.
preach to you this morning the gospel OF
health. In taking diagnosis Of the diseases
Of the soul you must also take the diagnoses
of the diseases of the body. As if to recog-
nize this, one whole book Of the New Testa-
ment was written by physician. Luke was
q doctor, and he discourceS much of physical
effects, and he tells of the good Samaritan's
medication of the wounds by pouring in oil
and vine, and recognizes hunger as q him
.drance to hearing the Gospel, so that the
500 were fed; and records the spare diet Of
the prodigal away from home, and the exsin-
guished eyesight of the beggar by the way
side, and lets us know Of the hemorrhage Of
the wounds Of the dying Christ and the
miraculous post-mortem resuscitation. And
any estimate of the spiritual condition that
does not include also an estimate Of the
physical condition is incomplete.
First, let Christian people avoid the mis-
take that they are all wrong with God be-
cause they suffer from depression Of spirits
Many consecrated man has found his spir-
itual sky befogged, and his hope and heaven
blotted out, and himself plunged chin deep in
the Slough of Despond, and hiss said: MY
heart is not right with God and think Unjust
have made mistake, and instead Of being
child of light I am a child Of darkness. No
one can feel as gloomy as feel and be
for consolation, and he has collected Flavels
books, and Cecirs books, and Baxter's books,
and read and read and read, and prayed and
prayed and prayed, and wept and wept and
wept, and groaned and groaned and groaned.
My brother, your trouble is not with
the heart; it is gastric disorder or re-
bellion Of the liver. You need a physi-
clan more than you do clergyman. 1t is
not sin that blots out your hope Of heaven,
h,,f, hi1a II NOT 0nlv vel1oyye vour avaha1l
and furs your tongue, and makes your head
ache, but swoops upon your soul in objections
and forebodings. The devil is after you. He
has failed to despoil your character, and he
does the next best thing for him-he ruff1es
your peace Of mind. When he says that you
are not forgiven soul, when he says that
you are not right with God, when he says
that you will never get to heaven, he lies.
You are Just as sure of heaven as though you
were there already. But Satan, finding that
he cannot keep you out Of the promised land
Of Canaan, has determined that the spies
shall not bring you any Of the Eschol grapes
beforehand, and that you shall have nothing
but prickly pear and crab apple You are just
as good now under the cloud as you were when
you were accustomed to rise in the morning
to pray and sing "Hallelujah, it's DONE"
Edward Payson, sometimes so far up
on the mount that it seemed as if the
eentripetal force Of earth could no longer
hold him, sometimes through a phys cal dis
order was so far down that it seemed as ifthe
neither world would clutch him. Glorious
William Cowper was as good as good could
be, and will be loved in the Christian church
as long as it sings his hymn beginning:
''Thepe is q fountain filled with blood, and
his hymn beginning: "Oh, for closer walk
with God" and his hymn beginning: What
varions hindrances We meet" and his hymn
beginning: "God moves in mysterious
way" Yet so was he overcome of melan-
choly, or black bile, that it was only th1 ough
the mistake Of the cab driver who took him
to wrong place, instead of the river bank,
that he did not commit suicide.
Spiritual condition so nightly affected by
the physical state! What great oppor-
tunity this gives the Christian physician, for
he can feel at the same time both the pulse of
the body and the pulse Of the soul, and he
can administer to both at once, and if medi-
cine is needed he can give that, and if spirit
ual counsel is needed he can give that--an
earthly and divine prescription at the same
time-and call not only the apothecary of
earth, but the pharmacy of heaven. Ah,
this is the kind Of doctor want at my bed
side when / get sick. one that can not only
pour out the right number Of drops, but one
who can also pray. That is the kind Of doc
Tor have had in my house when sickness or
death came. I do not want any of your prof
igate OF atheistic doctors around my loved
ones when the balances Of life are trem-
bling A doctor who has gone through the
medical college. and in disSecting room
has traversed the wonders of the human
mechanism, and found no God in any of the
labyrinths, is fool. and cannot doctor me or
mine. But, oh, the Christian doctors! What
a comfort they have been in many Of our
households. And they ought to have warm
place in our prayers, as well as praise on our
tongues. Dear ol DR.. Skillman! My father 8
doctor, my mothers doctor, in the village.